BY MY reckoning, Liverpool are approaching eleven hundred hours of football since their last defeat.

BY MY reckoning, Liverpool are approaching eleven hundred hours of football since their last defeat.

True, their last two victories have come 7,000 miles apart in warm-up matches, but try telling that to a manager who has worked ceaselessly to drill the winning habit into his multi-cultural crew.

Already in the last week Gerard Houllier has praised his players' attitude and work-rate an encouraging carry-over from a glorious campaign which saw three trophies hauled in, and the Reds at last looking at Manchester United's achievements without blinking.

Liverpool's results sequence is significant for another reason, with qualification for the league stages of the Champions League arriving a full 10 days before the opening blows of the new Premiership season.

So a taxing trip to the Orient followed by a tournament in Holland against top opposition is exactly what Houllier requires in terms of preparation.

Indeed, by the time West Ham arrive at Anfield on August 18, Liverpool, with a Charity Shield match against Manchester United and two legs of their crucial Champions League qualifer already behind them, could turn out to be the fittest team in the land.

Making that fitness tell will be crucial if the threat posed by United, Arsenal, Leeds and possibly Chelsea is finally to be overcome.